Hyperloop: Another Elon Musk Concept Moves Forward

Latest PR release showing company Hyperloop One's public linear electric motor proof of concept demo run in the Nevada desert, 11/05/16. This is not THE test. As I suspected, nobody wants to publicly fail if they can help it, and the test had already been run in private, as shown in this video Hyperloop One Propulsion Test Preview

Notwithstanding all these achievements, the driven Mr. Musk has proposed and is promoting his concept for a radical new approach to land transportation, the Hyperloop.

What Is Hyperloop?

Wipedia explains: - "The Hyperloop is a conceptual high-speed transportation system originally put forward by Elon Musk, incorporating reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors."Musk's initial proposal was for a route from the Los Angeles to San Francisco Bay Area. Preliminary analysis indicated that at a top speedof 1,200 km/h the 560 km route could have a journey time of 35 minutes, with average speed around 970 km/h.

See the Wikipedia entry for "Hyperloop" for more technical details and background of developments since proposed. There is little point in my blog entry restating what is there.

I have not added any more YouTube video material as there is little of sufficient standard available. Most journalism is so technically illiterate that the videos I found were riddled with confusion and inaccuracy. People confuse Musk's promotion with possession, his companies with other companies, propulsion systems with levitation systems, concepts with designs, estimates with facts, etc., etc.

Once again, like his recoverable tail-landing rockets, this is not a new concept, it has been around for a 100 years.Mr. Musk has taken another look at the idea, deciding that modern capabilities now make it possible.

What I admire about Mr. Musk is that he has put his money where his mouth is, assigning a dozen engineers from Tesla Motors and SpaceX who worked for nine months, establishing the conceptual foundations and creating the designs for the transportation system. He has then fostered development by publishing the designs under the Open Source model and constructing test tracking to be available for groups taking up the challenge to produce working systems. He has established a design competition for such groups as well. See ﻿﻿MIT wins SpaceX’s Hyperloop competition, and Elon Musk made a cameo﻿﻿, 30/01/16

I have always been pretty cynical about the world of business and marketing, but since I took an interest in the activities of his companies SpaceX and Tesla Motors, I have come to a certain level of respect for Elon Musk's efforts to pioneer new ways of doing things. I am not qualified to comment on his business methods; it appears he has had considerable assistance via US Government monies. However, he has set out to do things which are of some use to society, as opposed to ventures whose efforts consist of taking great pains to convince the public to buy products they don't really need. (Yes, you, the cosmetics, HDTV, bottled water, breakfast cereal, soft drink and drugs industries, e.g 11 Amazing Triumphs of Demand Creation.)